Going Dark – and Darker

 

10/26/26 Cd'A Museum Aquarelle pencils, Neocolor II crayons and F-C Pitt Artist Brush Pens (photo reference)

With water-soluble pencils (and more recently crayons) as my primary color medium for many years now, I sometimes think I’ve gotten the darkest values dark enough while I’m on location. Then when I get home and put my sketchbook on the scanner, I realize that I could have pushed them even darker. The single biggest (and probably most important) lesson that markers have taught me this InkTober is that it never hurts (and often helps) for the darks to go even darker – and markers make that easier and faster than my usual water-soluble materials.

For this sketch, I used a photo reference so that I could focus on experimenting. First I used water-soluble pencils and crayons in my usual way. Then I leaned in hard with Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens for the darkest areas under and behind the foreground tree. I didn’t like the abrupt, hard edges of the marker against the softness of the other media, so I tried to fuzz the transitions with more pencil and crayon (with mixed results).

I wanted to retain the paper's tooth showing through as bits of reflected light,
so I used an Indigo Necolor II.

For the background trees (detail at left), I wanted to avoid the solidity of markers, so I used a crayon in the same color as the Indigo marker. Using markers for trees will probably never appeal to me because I’d lose the tiny sparkles of white from the paper’s tooth that impart the look of foliage reflecting light.

To check this out, for the reddish-orange foreground bushes (detail below), I used a dark magenta marker in the deepest shadow area. I couldn’t get rid of that pasted-on look, and I think it would have been better to stay with crayons only.

I’m looking forward to experimenting further – and very happy now that I took the plunge to devote InkTober to markers!

The dark magenta shadow looks pasted on.

Life Drawing at the Octopus Bar

 

Jen had the right idea -- she kept right on drawing
the rest of us even as she posed!

10/25/26 Life drawing at the Octopus Bar

A new bar has opened in the Wallingford neighborhood with an interesting theme. With lots of “wood, ropes, handwritten letters, portholes, nautical charts, maps, cameras, suitcases, chains, anchors and anything rusty or shiny,” The Octopus Bar has multiple rooms decked out with nautical stuff that would be fun to sketch. The most fun offering, though, is free life drawing every Sunday evening!

I started out using a gray marker for shading,
but I found it to be too dark, so I switched to light blue later.

You won’t find pro models there. Instead, patrons volunteer to pose in return for a drink. Each pose is eight minutes with a short break halfway through – a manageable duration for amateurs. Not that I would know – I didn’t have the nerve to volunteer last Sunday, when I made my first visit there with Jen and Sasha. They both tried modeling for the first time and enjoyed it, which encouraged me to try it sometime!

What I like most about the Octopus Bar (compared to other bars) is that the music isn’t annoying or even overly loud (a very pleasant surprise). In addition, the lighting was bright enough that we could see what we were drawing – also surprising for a bar. I gave the manager positive feedback about both.

Friends Sarah and Kanchan portrayed a horror scene for their partnered pose!

I had a ball and will surely be back again. With good food and beverages to enjoy while sketching, it’s going to be a great wintertime sketching option.

I switched to colored pencils for the second set.
Ahhh... pencils, how I've missed you!

Back to the Halloween Parade

 

10/24/26 Maple Leaf Halloween Parade
The traffic cone was my favorite costume!

The drizzle that turned into rain didn’t deter the kids, dogs and their families who turned out for the Maple Leaf Halloween Parade. Beginning at Maple Leaf Park, the slow-moving parade eventually wound its way past neighborhood businesses and even homes along the route who gave out candy. Although I didn’t follow the parade as I have some years, I had fun catching what I could while everyone gathered at the park. I wished I’d snapped photos of the funny costumes, but I can either sketch or photograph but not both!

Greg and I always enjoyed watching the parade together. After he moved to memory care, I stopped going – I didn’t have the heart to go alone because I knew it would make me miss him (and feel sadness for all that he was missing).

This year I decided to go. I need to start doing things again that I used to enjoy with him. One of the hardest things about loss is that the parade goes on; I don’t want to keep missing it just because I miss him.

The banana man was taking pics of his wife and child, also dressed like bananas. I regret that I couldn't sketch the whole family!

Technical note: You can see a few raindrops here and there, but it was raining much harder than my sketchbook indicates. That's definitely a benefit of using waterproof markers like the Pitt Artist Brush Pens I used.

Sublime Sunrise

 

10/24/26 sunrise, Maple Leaf neighborhood

Light in my peripheral vision made me look up from my breakfast: a sublime sunrise! Letting my remaining coffee go cold, I dashed upstairs to catch as much color as I could. Sparse clouds formed intriguing stripes above Her Majesty. Minutes later, it all changed.

Putting this scanned image into my PC’s “skyscapito” folder, I found the last one I had made – sunset last February (below)! I had been waiting to accumulate a few more sketches before writing a blog post, but I didn’t make another until Saturday. Better late than never, I suppose, though I’m disappointed that I’ve fallen out of the skyscapito groove.

2/25/26 sunset, Maple Leaf neighborhood

Food Reviews (and Comments on AI)

 

4/6/26 quiche at Cloudy Cafe, Ballard

I have lots of pages from my daily sketch journal this year that I’ve been collecting in a folder, hoping to eventually find some kind of theme to make a cohesive blog post. I finally found one. You’ve seen plenty of pastries I’ve consumed, which may lead you to the conclusion that that’s the only food type I sketch (or eat!). Shown here are some foods I’ve eaten that are not pastries.

6/19/26 Xiao long bao at Supreme Dumplings, South Lake Union

Incidentally, I must tell you how I found Irwin’s Bakery & Café, where I enjoyed a very good hot croissant sandwich (called an “Eggel,” shown at end of post, because you can choose to get it on a bagel if you prefer). But first, some context:

7/26/26 avocado Benedict at Salt & Iron, Edmonds

If you’ll recall, a while back I talked about how I used ChatGPT to critique a couple of sketches. That novelty wore off immediately, and I never did it again. However, I have been using AI judiciously for other purposes, and the most productive has been for travel planning. For example, when I was planning my trip to the Bay Area last month, ChatGPT gave me an efficient itinerary for getting from San Jose to Palo Alto by train. It also offered useful tips on taking advantage of a shuttle instead of expending time and energy walking more than necessary on Stanford’s huge campus. It even gave me suggestions for the best places to have lunch on campus. It was all easily available information that I could have researched myself, piece by piece, but that would have taken hours. ChatGPT pulled it all together in a matter of seconds.

8/21/26 nigiri sushi at AA Sushi, Ballard

When I asked for it, it also gave me areas I should avoid on foot and others that were safe to walk in daylight. That type of information is harder to find by using basic Google searches.

8/24/26 nigiri sushi at Musashi, Wallingford (I deliberately purchased the same assortment as the few days prior at AA Sushi to compare the quality and cost. Musashi won on price, but it lacked presentation.)

In San Jose’s Japantown, which was filled with sushi restaurants, AI helped me find exactly the kind of menu and ambiance I like (I’m picky, and I had given it several specific criteria).

9/3/26 tuna salad croissant sandwich at Petit Pierre (Potato chips sounded like a novel, crunchy addition, but the premade, refrigerated sandwich rendered the chips soggy.)

Back to my croissant sandwich. In my endless quest for a “third place,” I sometimes ask AI for coffee shop suggestions, hoping it will find something new. Ho-hum – nothing. I’ve also been disappointed when the coffee might be great, but the pastries are plastic-wrapped (obviously not house-baked). Then I changed my request: “Find a bakery that also has a pleasant seating area, not just a takeout counter.” Irwin’s Bakery was one result (see the sandwich at end of post).

10/7/26 Cock-a-doodle-do appetizer at Noi Thai, Green Lake (The description of this dish didn't really interest me, but the photo was so beautiful that I couldn't resist ordering it; a friend helped me eat it.)

Though I’m still cautious in how I use it, I see AI’s place as an effective research tool.

10/11/26 soft bean burrito at Taco Time near the Amgen Helix Bridge (Some of the best food experiences are the ones that prompt long-forgotten memories -- even at Taco Time.)

10/22/26 hot croissant "Eggel" at Irwin's Bakery & Cafe, Wallingford

Golden Hour Drink & Draw

 

10/23/26 Project 9 Brewing Co., Maple Leaf neighborhood

Baloo and another dog (top), who was with
a different party. 

Project 9 Brewing has two large outdoor seating areas: a sheltered area on the north side with heaters, and a (potentially) sunny patio on the south side with lots of umbrella’d tables. When I first arrived for Friday’s drink & draw, I scoped out both areas to see which would be more comfortable. At 4 p.m., the sunshine was brilliant, warming the otherwise chilly afternoon. I picked the sunny patio, which gave us a lovely golden hour glow.

It was fun sketching backlit Stephanie, Abby and Kaisa (top of post), whom I could see easily at the next table. I was pleased that I had captured all three of their likenesses relatively well (and believe me, I don’t say that often when I sketch other sketchers). 

The most fun, though, was my favorite model of the evening, Jenny’s dog, Baloo. In fact, the quick colored pencil sketch I made from an unusual top view of his head (below) was especially satisfying. (Now that we’re nearing the end of InkTober, you think maybe I’m craving pencils?)

With the bittersweetness we all feel at this time of year, we fondly reminisced about our drink & draw last April, when the same sunny patio was a joyful preview of summer to come. This time, we sighed about the oncoming Big Dark. By sundown, it was too cold to sketch, so we called it a night.

Ahhh, pencil -- how I've missed you.

Backlit Wallingford

 

10/22/26 Wallingford neighborhood

When an errand brought me to the Wallingford neighborhood, it gave me an opportunity to take a leaf-peeping walk through some residential streets that I don’t usually see. Although it was only early afternoon, I could tell that the sun was already low in the sky compared to summer. This type of challenging backlit view always calls to me.

Technical note: After complaining yesterday about not liking the ways I’ve been indicating a clear sky with markers, I came up with an obvious solution. The sky is almost always the lightest, brightest part of an outdoor scene; why not leave it paper-white? It’s funny, though: When I deliberately leave a sky white, I’m usually indicating that it was overcast (which it is most of the year), and if it happens to be blue, it’s important to me to color it blue. But all the sharp shadows are doing the job of indicating a clear sky, so I’m good with that.

We're having a phenomenal leaf-peeping season this year!